Yes — if you have graduated from an Australian CRICOS-registered course, the 485 visa (Temporary Graduate visa, subclass 485) is the visa that lets eligible graduates stay in Australia after their studies. It is not automatic: you apply in one of two streams, and the age, English, study-recency and health insurance rules all have to be met on the day you apply. Here is what each of those means in practice, and where the official guidance stops short.
Which 485 visa stream do you apply in?
Study Australia's guide to the Temporary Graduate visa (subclass 485) describes the visa as a way to stay in Australia if you are an eligible international student who has graduated from an Australian CRICOS-registered course. The stream you apply in depends on the level of your qualification, not on the job you hope to get:
| Stream | Qualification level | How long you can stay |
|---|---|---|
| Post-Higher Education Work | Degree-level qualification or higher | Usually between 2 and 3 years, depending on your qualification |
| Post-Vocational Education Work | Associate degree, diploma or trade qualification only | Up to 18 months |
Hong Kong and British National Overseas (BNO) passport holders may stay for five years in either stream. Getting the stream right matters, because you cannot change streams after you apply — Study Australia lists "apply for your eligible stream (it is not possible to change streams after you apply)" as one of the basic requirements, alongside holding an eligible visa, having held a Student visa in the last six months, and attaching the required evidence.
One detail is worth checking before you rely on the table above. The Study Australia page gives the Post-Higher Education stay as a range rather than a list of which degree gets which period, so it does not settle how long a specific qualification buys you. The Migration Regulations 1994 set out the detailed criteria for each stream, and the Department of Home Affairs is the authority to ask if you need your own qualification matched to a period.
For the Post-Vocational Education Work stream, the regulations (clause 485.221) spell out what "recent qualification" means: in the six months immediately before you apply, you completed one or more associate degrees, diplomas or trade qualifications awarded by an Australian educational institution, from registered courses completed in a total of at least 16 calendar months and at least two academic years of study, with all instruction in English, undertaken in Australia while you held a visa authorising study.
Do you meet the age rule?
Most applicants must be 35 or under when they apply. The Migration Regulations 1994 put the limit at less than 50 if you hold a Hong Kong or BNO passport or have completed a research masters or a doctoral degree, and 35 or younger for everyone else. In practical terms, the age test is applied at the moment of application, so a birthday shortly before you lodge can change which bracket you fall into; the same Hong Kong/BNO concession also runs through the length-of-stay and English rules.
Where do you have to be when you apply?
You generally have to be in Australia, and not in immigration clearance, at the time you apply — the regulations carve out only listed exceptions, such as family members of a 485 holder and the closed Replacement stream. That is why the timing around the end of your student visa matters more than anything else in this list: apply before it ceases, while you are lawfully onshore.
If your student visa has already ended and you are on a bridging visa, you may still have a path. Under the regulations, an applicant holding a Bridging A (Class WA) or Bridging B (Class WB) visa that was granted on the basis of a valid application can qualify, provided they also held an eligible student visa at some point during the six months ending immediately before the 485 application is made. Study Australia's summary of the same requirement — "have held a Student visa in the last 6 months" — is the shorter version of that rule. What the sources used here do not set out is how to evidence the six-month window if your study finished earlier and you moved to another visa in between; that is a question for the Department of Home Affairs.
What English score does the 485 need?
Your application must be accompanied by evidence of a language test specified by the Minister, with the specified score achieved within the period the Minister specifies, or by a passport of a type the Minister specifies (Migration Regulations 1994, clause 485.212). The test, the score and the validity period therefore come from a legislative instrument, not from the regulations themselves.
The published score settings are described in Study Australia's March 2024 note on English language requirement changes: the minimum score for a Temporary Graduate visa increased from IELTS 6.0 to 6.5 (or equivalent), with at least 5.5 in each of reading, writing, speaking and listening. Hong Kong and BNO passport holders are not required to meet that higher minimum and stay at IELTS 6.0 (or equivalent) with at least 5.0 in each component. Whichever bracket you fall into, the test must have been completed no more than one year before the date of your visa application, so a result from early in your course will usually be too old by the time you finish.
There is a caveat. Current score tables, including equivalent scores for tests taken on or after 7 August 2025, could not be verified from the sources used here, and the Study Australia note predates later changes. Treat the numbers above as the last settings confirmed in this material and confirm the current table on immi.homeaffairs.gov.au under the Temporary Graduate 485 stream pages before you book a test.
Health insurance on the 485: condition 8501
Health insurance is a standing obligation, not a one-off document. Under clause 485.215, the application must be accompanied by evidence that you had adequate arrangements for health insurance when it was made, and you must have had adequate arrangements since then. Condition 8501, which requires you to maintain adequate health insurance, must be imposed on the 485 visa (clause 485.611).
In practice, that means two steps rather than one. If you still hold a valid Student visa when you lodge, your existing OSHC is considered acceptable health insurance at that point and you should submit evidence of it with your application, but you will still need to take out 485-compliant cover at some stage during processing for the application to be finalised, according to privatehealth.gov.au's guidance for working visa applicants. The guidance used here does not name which products count as 485-compliant, or what happens if your OSHC lapses mid-processing, so ask your insurer directly and confirm the wording of condition 8501 with the Department of Home Affairs if the gap between lodgement and decision is long.
What the official material here does not settle
Two things are missing from the sources above, and neither should be guessed. The first is the 485 visa application charge: the fee is set out in Home Affairs' own pricing material, which could not be cleanly verified for this answer, so check the current amount on immi.homeaffairs.gov.au (the Temporary Graduate 485 stream pages or the Visa Pricing Estimator) before you budget. The second is the current English score table, as noted above. Both are best confirmed with the Department of Home Affairs, which is also the authority to ask about your own stream, age and study-recency position.
This is general information about Australia, not personal legal, migration, tax or financial advice.
Sources
- Study Australia – Temporary Graduate visa (subclass 485)
- Migration Regulations 1994 – Volume 1 (Compilation No. 288)
- Migration Regulations 1994 – Volume 2 (Compilation No. 288)
- Study Australia – English Language Requirements changes
- privatehealth.gov.au – Working visa applicants
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